Breast pumps are used by mothers to express breast milk at a convenient time, to be stored for later consumption by their child. The breast pump operates by generating a vacuum to mimic the feeding action of the child. Conventional breast pumps can be categorised as mechanical, in which a user manually operates a vacuum pump in order to generate the required vacuum, or electrical, in which a vacuum pump is driven by an electric motor. It is known that electrical systems in breast pumps could shutdown unexpected and uncontrolled.
In electrical breast pump systems it is generally desirable to improve the reliability of such systems. It is also desirable to reduce power consumption, for instance to maximise battery life.